


Lucid Dreaming

by Zaphirite



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Drabble, Gen, and she tips him in pictures she hasn't posted on the blog, art comissions, headcanon that Alya comissions art of LB and CN from Nathaniel on the regular, ml s2 spoilers, sapotis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-05
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2019-03-14 08:57:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13586682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaphirite/pseuds/Zaphirite
Summary: Alya knew she had to accept this. She just didn’t want it to become a fleeting dream, one that she’d forget about when she woke up in the real world again.





	Lucid Dreaming

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't quite gotten back into the swing of things... it took a lot to force myself to write just this much. I still wanted to though, just for Alya since she's my favorite character!
> 
> Plus, it's been a while since I did art for a fic, not since I finished Paws! Find more of my art at crispypata.tumblr.com!

“…You want it exactly like this pose?” 

 Nathaniel looked up from the comic book that Alya handed him. His other hand, writing notes a moment ago, paused mid-sentence and tapped in place on the paper. 

“Is there something wrong with it?”

“Not really, just wondering. Usually you give me free reign on commissions, what makes this one different?” 

 “Oh, right…” Alya paused, suddenly looking bashful. “I guess I never did a blog post about that night yet. My little sisters were the ones akumatized. So this is pretty important to me.” 

Thankfully, Nathaniel went back to studying the cover - the Majestia edition that she brought with her to her first day of school here - and didn’t catch the way Alya’s shoulders dipped with her sigh of relief. 

“Yeah, I think I have some ideas. I’ll run a sketch by you later once I get the chance to look over the references tonight.” Nathaniel held out his hand, but Alya’s own hand hesitated over the flash drive in her bag. Her fingers brushed against it and flinched away. She pretended to dig around in her bag, taking another quick breath before finally grasping it and quickly placing it her classmate’s palm. 

“Glad I could find some stuff on the new hero. It all just happened so fast, I barely got a look at her myself!” Alya clasped her hands to her chest, trying to still her shaky fingers. 

The classroom door opened. Among the other students ushering in, Marinette spotted Alya by Nathaniel’s desk with a puzzled look and a wave. 

Nathaniel had already hidden the comic book in his bag by the time Alya turned back to him. She put a finger to her lips, quickly whispering, “Thanks again, but remember - it’s a secret,” before heading back to her seat. 

Without the usual coverage from the Ladyblog, the akuma Sapotis’ and the hero Rena Rouge’s debuts were made of whispers on the forums and wild news speculation. Only a handful of distant photos and videos captured an orange blur alongside the two heroes of Paris. Very few were clear enough to see her face for a few seconds. Even if she couldn’t recognize herself in them, Alya gathered every single shred of evidence that she could find. 

She found herself questioning anything she did remotely related to Rena Rouge. It made sense that she, the girl who ran the Ladyblog, would rip everything she could on the internet. It made sense that her sisters being akumatized would be a personal matter to her. It made sense that she would idolize the new hero that helped save her sisters from Hawkmoth and also helped save the heroes from her sisters.

…Right? 

 Alya never questioned herself before, not like this. Like a fierce wind, she let herself chase everything without a thought. The magnitude of the situation made it even harder to act like herself. 

This was important. Ladybug trusted her with such a vital secret, and that night her greatest dream came true! 

It’s because it was her dream that she wanted to be a little selfish. Ladybug had asked for help with hero stuff many times before, and Alya gladly answered each call, but there was no guarantee that she’d be able to wear that necklace again.

 At least she got a taste of how Ladybug and Chat Noir always faced the impossible and made miracles out of bad situations.

Being a hero, with a real miraculous, felt  _amazing_. 

Alya couldn’t expect to taste that feeling again. No one was even supposed to know what her hero name even was besides Ladybug and Chat. No one in Paris will know much of Rena Rouge, and for all anyone else knew, she could have been as much of a mirage as the rest of the magic that night.

Alya knew she had to accept this. She just didn’t want it to become a fleeting dream, one that she’d forget about when she woke up in the real world again. 

* * *

The sketch Nathaniel showed her soon after looked great. He decided to add her illusion of the amusement park in the background, only illuminating Rena even more. He tried to ask questions for accuracy, or what to refer to her as, but Alya bit her tongue and pretended she didn’t know. 

 A week later, the final digital painting arrived in an e-mail at 2 am. It was followed by a text message.

  **[What do you think? Anything you want me to adjust?]**

 Alya’s thumbs hovered over her phone screen, shaking so much that she had to put down her phone to just take in the image displayed on her laptop. The pose was the same as Majestia, like she had asked. Of course there were inaccuracies. Rena’s hair was loose instead of tied up. There was a chain around her miraculous when it actually became her zipper pull. Her Mirage was being cast from her hand instead of her flute. 

 And yet - it was undeniably Rena Rouge on the screen. Not Volpina or anyone else. This was proof that Rena was real. And she looked so happy. 

Her eyes itched, and when Alya reached with her fingers, they came away wet. She laughed. She kept laughing to herself as she rubbed at her face with her sleeve, and she wasn’t quite sure why she was laughing. 

One thing’s for sure. Nathaniel was going to get some real nice exclusive Ladybug pictures as an extra tip. He was so going to freak out over them. 

 **[Nah, it’s perfect the way it is,]** she managed to respond after a while. 

 Alya slowly put down her phone on her desk. She saved the image for printing later so it could go on her wall. Maybe she wouldn’t be able to feel the wind as she leapt from the rooftops ever again. But she had proof that she felt them in the first place, and how miraculous it all was.

And with that, she was satisfied.

  
  



End file.
